The police custody of five men of liquor baron Ponty Chadha, arrested for allegedly entering a disputed farmhouse in South Delhi and thrashing some people there, was extended by three more days by a Delhi court on Monday.
Metropolitan Magistrate Sudhanshu Kaushik extended the police custody of Bhupender Singh, Uday Raj Singh, Rajpal Singh, Anand Singh Bisht and Mathura Singh Mehra till November 28 on police plea that the five have to be confronted with Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, who is also in police custody for his alleged role in the November 17 shootout.
The five were produced in the court by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police after expiry of their remand.
"Keeping in mind the seriousness of the offence and also that the investigation is still at preliminary stage, three days police custody is granted to the Crime Branch," the court said.
The crime branch told the court that their custody is required as they have to be confronted with Namdhari, the sacked Uttarakhand Minority Commission chairman, the eighth accused arrested accused in the case.
Police had earlier told the court that Namdhari has confessed to having shot Ponty's younger brother Hardeep Chadha in Chattarpur farmhouse with his pistol when Hardeep pointed his gun at him.
It said on Monday that the others arrested in the case may also disclose more information to complete the chain of evidence once they are brought face to face for questioning.
Ponty and Hardeep, who had an ongoing property dispute, were killed when both sides opened fire at each other on November 17 at their family farmhouse here.
The five arrested in the case includes Ponty's protocol manager who was allegedly leading the band of goons, the personal security officer of Ponty and that of his daughter, besides the driver of a Scorpio, found at the crime scene.
Mathura, a servant of Ponty's family, was arrested for his alleged role in connection with Chattarpur farmhouse trespass case.
The police had claimed that Mathura was aware of the attempts at Chattarpur and Bjiwasan. He gave them the weapons.
Two other accused Vijay Kumar and Madan Rana, working as caretakers at Chadhas' farmhouse in Bijwasan, were arrested by the police in another case for allegedly entering into the farmhouse after breaking its locks and restraining occupants wrongfully and threatening them.
All of them have been charged with offences of criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder, dacoity, assault, trespass, illegal confinement and kidnapping.
Gurdeep alias Ponty and Hardeep were killed in a shootout at their Chattarpur farmhouse on November 17 afternoon after which the police has arrested altogether eight people in various criminal cases, linked to the shootout incident allegedly between the two brothers.
